


Don't Come Home Too Soon

by atreic



Category: The Holiday (2006)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-07 21:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/753318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atreic/pseuds/atreic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amanda really does go back to LA after her evening with Graham, and finds herself getting to know Iris better than she would ever have expected... </p><p>[Because I enjoyed the film lots, but I spent the whole movie rooting for this to happen, and what else is fanfic for?]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Come Home Too Soon

Iris lay floating on the surface of the swimming pool, arms outstretched, feeling the warmth of the December sun. She had only this morning discovered that the building-wide sound system extended to the pool, and so she was treating herself to Greatest 70s Hits – the Underwater Version. It was Gloria Gaynor, and Iris was gently singing along with the chorus.

‘You think I’d crumble? You think I’d break down and die? Oh no not I! I will survive! ‘Cause as long as I…’ BUZZ! BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ!

The loud insistent buzzing broke the spell of the song, and Iris wobbled, swallowed water, sank, and came up gasping like a wet fish. She looked around frantically. What had she broken? Did the sound system have a ‘do not sing in the pool’ warning that she had missed in the small print? Was the house on fire? How would she ever pay Amanda back if she burnt down her luxury Californian condo?

She heaved herself out of the pool, and noticed the sleek black car waiting at the gates. The entry buzzer! It must be the entry buzzer. But who could possibly want to visit her here? She knew no-one in California, and no-one knew she was here. Except… could it be Jasper? Her heart leapt in her throat. Could he finally have realized what she meant to him? Come out here to set things right? Why hadn’t she learnt how to open the gate?

She ran from the pool without pausing to grab a towel. The gates swung open as she dashed towards them. Wishing, no matter how fiercely, had never made things happen in her life before, and so she was surprised to see it start now. Then the car door opened and instead of the tousled dark head of Jasper she saw a sleek sharp blonde. It must be Amanda!

Amanda looked over to see a pink faced woman in an unflattering swimming costume, dripping all over her patio. ‘Hi’, she said. ‘I’m back early.’ It was stating the obvious, but the English woman was gaping like a fish, and so short simple sentences telling her things she already knew seemed like the best place to start. ‘The cottage…’ She trailed off. There were lots of things she could have said – the walk down the lane, the squalid bathroom, the wheezing dog – but Iris already looked about two inches high and ready to cry. ‘Contained men,’ she finished awkwardly. ‘Well, one man. You were quite clear, “No Men”. So I came back’

Iris gaped in incomprehension for a second, and then the penny dropped. Graham! It was Friday night pub, and Graham had a key, and she’d failed to tell him she was away, and… ‘I am so, so sorry’ she babbled. ‘So sorry. I’ll… I’ll leave immediately.’ She looked around at her towels and wine glasses, strewn across the patio. ‘I’ll tidy up, and then leave immediately’. She hastily grabbed her towel to wrap it round her. It knocked over a wine glass, which spilled the remaining dregs of red wine over the floor, and rolled into the pool with a small sad splash. ‘I’m so, so, so sorry’

Amanda sighed. This woman could clearly not be trusted to cross the street safely. It would be like kicking a puppy to throw her out with no notice. ‘You may as well stay tonight’ she said. ‘After all, there is a guest room. Four guest rooms, technically. You can move in there.’ She paused. After all, Iris had already been sleeping in the master, the help wasn’t due until tomorrow, and making up one bed was less tedious than making up two. She hated changing sheets. ‘I’ll move in there. It’s only one night.’ Her eye fell on the half empty bottle of wine by the pool. After all, this was supposed to be her holiday. ‘But if you did want to tidy up, I suppose we could start with that…’

**

‘And so then he admitted he’d slept with her! And claimed it was my fault. Bastard’ said Amanda, chugging back another swig of wine.

‘Men. Is all bastards. Utter bastards,’ said Iris, sympathy and drunkenness fighting in equal measures in her voice.

‘And the patronising sod told me I was heartless for not crying! I didn’t see him crying. Bloody sexist crap’

‘ ‘sright, sexist rubbish’ replied Iris, putting a sympathetic arm round Amanda’s shoulder. 

‘And your brother! Finds me drunk and alone and upset and horny and what does he do? Takes advantage! That’s what he does!’

‘Bastards. All bastards. Makes out he’s a saint bringing up those poor little girls, but as soon as he wants to do something he leaves them with the nanny, who is hopelessly in love with him, and swans off and does exactly what he wants to do’

‘zactly. Bastard. Praying on a woman who’s vulnerable and hundreds of miles from anyone she knows. How could he?’ 

Iris was stroking Amanda’s hair now, murmuring her shared outrage. Through her drunkenness, Amanda couldn’t help noticing it was remarkably pleasant. And she really did hate making up beds. She turned and kissed her.

***

Iris woke slowly with a splitting headache. This wasn’t her cottage. Hazily, memories started to drift back to her. The holiday exchange, the house in California, Amanda’s house, Amanda… Suddenly the events of the previous night clicked into place. She rolled over, and saw Amanda stretched out beside her, the early morning sun shining on her blonde hair, the room warm enough that the sheet had been discarded and lay rumpled round her feet. She felt a hot blush of embarrassment rise up though her, almost entirely masking her thrill of joy and excitement at the sight of Amanda lying there. Oh God, what had she done? 

Amanda stirred, and rolled over. Iris clutched the sheet closer to herself and contemplated fleeing the house. Only her worry that she couldn’t work the gate without setting off the security alarm prevented her. Why was she in bed with a woman? A rich American woman? A rich American woman who had slept with her brother? It was all too strange.

Then Amanda snuggled close to her and sleepily kissed her shoulder, and Iris decided all the questions could wait for a bit.

 

***

Thus began one of the happiest weeks of Iris’s life. As no-one other than Iris knew Amanda was back in the States, Iris had her all to herself, and they lost themselves in each other. Long lazy days spent laughing down by the pool (Amanda faster, Iris able to stay under for longer). Disastrous attempts to follow recipes, ending with them both covered in cream and wryly resorting to takeaway menus. A trip down to the sea, walking on Santa Monica pier, eating icecream and watching the waves crash beneath them. They talked and talked about everything – their work, their homes, the men they had loved and lost. Well, nearly everything. Neither of them broached the subject of what they would do when the week was over. 

Iris was lying in the sun by the pool dozing, Amanda gently rubbing suncream on her back, when the gate buzzer went again. Amanda ignored it. Iris raised a quizzical eyebrow, but didn’t feel any real urge to encourage Amanda to move, being perfectly content exactly where she was.

‘I’m not expecting visitors. If it’s anything important, they’ll phone.’ With perfect timing, a phone rang. Amanda reached over for hers and flipped it open. ‘Funny, it’s not ringing. That must be your phone, not mine.’

Iris looked puzzled, and caught her phone as Amanda passed it to her. She thought how sweet and funny it was that they had chosen the same ring tone, living on opposite sides of the world. Then she looked down, and saw that the caller was Jasper. 

‘Iris! Are you at the house? I’m… I’ve sent you something, I think it’s at the gate, but they’re saying they can’t get in’.

Iris sighed inwardly. Two weeks ago she’d have been swept off her feet that Jasper had thought of her. One week ago she’d have been fuming that he would so selfishly ignore her requests for space from him. But now she was just irritated that she would have to move from this warm lounger and exquisite massage, to go and deal with a parcel from a life that felt like part of a long distant past. ‘I’m here, I’ll go and get it’.

‘Cheers, babe’. Jasper hung up.

Iris slipped into a sundress that Amanda had lent her, kissed Amanda in apology, and went down to the gate (which by now she could open with ease). A car pulled through, rolled to a halt, and a dark haired man stepped out. The blood drained from Iris’s face when she realized who it was.

‘Jasper!’

He smiled, stretching his arms wide for a hug. ‘Iris. When I’d heard you’d gone, I realised I had to come out here to make things right. I need you’

Iris gasped. ‘You’ve left her?’

Jasper looked momentarily confused. ‘Marta? This isn’t about her, it’s about us, darling.’

Iris paused. ‘If you were able to say yes, then you would have done. I can’t believe your cheek! Does she even know you’re out here?

‘Iris, Iris. Why do you make everything about her? Why can’t you just be pleased to see me, darling?’

‘Because, Jasper, you chose to spend the rest of your life with her. You could have asked me to marry you. You could have chosen me. But you didn’t, and I am not going to spend the rest of my life hanging around to be your consolation prize when you have a bit of spare time. You do not make me happy. You make me very very deeply sad, because every time I’m around you I remember how you broke my heart. Yet you somehow manage to make me feel this is my fault! You don’t listen to what I say, or what I want. I beg for time with you when we’re in the same office and you ignore me, and I ask for one week away from you, go to the other side of the world to get it, and you can’t leave me in peace. And you are marrying someone else! So now please, get out of my house, get out of my life, and give me the space I have asked for before you see me get really mad!’

Jasper staggered backwards as though she had hit him. In a small voice, he said ‘Babe? I know you’re upset, but I’m all alone, I don’t know this town, I came here to tell you how I feel about you. If you chuck me out now I don’t know what I’ll do.’

Iris felt her heart melt at the sight of his hurt, sad eyes. She relented slightly. What would one night hurt? Amanda would understand.

She hadn’t realized Amanda had seen all this from the top of the stairs. Now Amanda spoke. ‘Look, I know this isn’t my place, but are you really suggesting that you are the sort of man who can keep two women on a string for three years in the same office, arrange a plane ticket across the ocean at one days notice, get a home address out of a woman who explicitly wants a week away from you, but can’t drive into a city of over a thousand hotels and find one to stay in for an evening? Somehow, that seems unlikely to me.’

Jasper glowered at Amanda, his handsome face suddenly ugly and twisted. ‘And who gave you the right to turn up and wade into someone else’s conversation? Darling, Iris, you aren’t going to let this harridan drive us apart, are you?’

Iris felt herself freed from his spell. ‘Seems to me that you’re mostly worried about her because she’s made some remarkably good points. You don’t need to stay here tonight, and I don’t want you to. I’m sorry. I didn’t invite you, and I’d like you to leave now’ 

Jasper bristled. ‘I can’t believe you’d treat me this way. After all the things I’ve done for you, the opportunities I’ve given you! Well, that’s it. It’s over. And don’t you even think for a second that I’d still invite you to the wedding after this sort of an insult. And as for you – what sort of strident bitch can say those sort of things to someone they’ve never met? Who do you think you are, anyway?’

Amanda glared down at him. ‘I’m a person who knows how someone would behave if they were truly in love with Iris, and I can see that you’ve never been in love with anything outside of your own head. You’re a fool, Jasper, to have thrown away such a great treasure. I’m in love with Iris, and I would never for a second…’ But Jasper never got to hear what Amanda wouldn’t do, for Iris, overwhelmed by Amanda’s declaration, had thrown herself into her arms and was kissing her passionately. 

Jasper, denied his audience for his angry denouement, slunk back to his car and crept away. Iris did not even see him leave.

*** 

'Amanda?'

'Hmm?' Amanda sleepilly snuggled closer to Iris

'What happens next? I mean, at the end of the holiday.'

'I guess that depends what we want to happen. I love you. I'd like this to work out. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm really invested in my life over here. There's a lot less of a market for film trailers in Surrey than in L.A.'

Iris gazed up into Amanda's eyes. 'I'm not. I mean, invested in my life in Surrey. I don't want to go back and work with Jasper. I'm a writer, I'm sure they must have those in America as well as in England. And it's not like if I move to L.A. I'll never be allowed back into England for visits. But... I don't want to impose on you, or come on too strong, or scare you...'

'If you want to make a life out here, then that sounds like an excellent idea to me.' Amanda kissed her, with tears in her eyes.


End file.
